Ikea and Magical Evening

I am amazed that the exact same store would have completely different policies here.  We had a return to do at Ikea, and despite the rain, Anny and I braved out with both kids.  Not only do they not give store credit, but the person has to come, with the credit card used at time of purchase, within 30 days, with the receipt, else you are out of luck.

Hmm.

Dev is going to have to get off the plane and go straight to Ikea!  The craziest thing is that we got the home delivery and set up option for our closets, and there was a piece that the Ikea crew deemed un-installable, so they took it back with them to the warehouse - even though they acknowledged having received the goods back, they still would not process the return - Devin has to go in or we won't get the money back - even on items we never even had!

In any event, it's not really that big of a deal, but it does mean that we took two kids across town in the rain for nothing.  At least we had a decent kid-friendly meal...

Anny took the night off and I was a bit worried because Hudson was being totally wild.  I was having difficulty managing, and since he had not napped at all, I put him in the crib with a few toys for a bit of confined "quiet" playtime.  Amazingly, he took to it extremely well - so much so that 2 hours later I was asking if he wanted to come out and he would say "no, play!"  A few times he called me in for a potty break or to swap out the toys for different ones - but it was quite honestly the most brilliant night ever!  Sienna slept and I was able to do something I never ever get to do - veg and watch Master Chef Australia!!

I resisted the urge to sit there in the room and watch in amazement for two hours (although I did check on him frequently and took a few pics).  It was incredible how he sat there talking to himself and his toys, playing so nicely!

So thankful that lightning struck on the night I was without Anny!

The key is to give them only a few options..

Sienna, meanwhile...

I made a little mistake - I let H watch Monsters, Inc on the ipad (I've never seen it - I thought it was for kids!)  It gave him terrible nightmares, and he ended up cuddling with me on the sofa and falling asleep a little while after he had officially gone to bed for the night

Sienna kept waking and falling back asleep a bunch of times - I was able to sneak away from her here long enough to brush my teeth and get ready for bed myself!